[ Past ] Classic Album Sundays presents Bobby Gillespie on Primal Scream ‘Give Out But Don’t Give Up: The Original Memphis Recordings’ For National Album Day

Classic Album Sundays is hosting a National Album Day event and record launch with Primal Scream’s Bobby Gillespie on Thursday, 11th October 2018. We will feature the premier of the unreleased original mix of Give Out But Don’t Give Up: The Original Memphis Recordings on the eve of its release, so our attendees will get to hear it first! The event will be held at hmv, 363 Oxford Street, London, and is free to those who pre-order the album. Customers who pre-order the record via hmv will be able to pick it up at the event and have it signed by Bobby Gillespie.

The session will start with a discussion between Bobby Gillespie and BBC radio host and Classic Album Sundays founder Colleen ‘Cosmo’ Murphy about the making of the album and why he felt it was so important to release the original mix of this album. They will also discuss the albums that influenced Bobby and his fellow band members whilst recording in Memphis.

Tickets for the event are free when you pre-order the album via HMV here. Spaces are limited!

“In 1993 Primal Scream went to Memphis to make an album with Tom Dowd and the Muscle Shoals rhythm section, that album never saw the light of day, until now.” – Bobby Gillespie 2018

Teaming up with legendary producer Tom Dowd and the Muscle Shoals rhythm section of David Hood (bass) and Roger Hawkins (drums) at Ardent Studios in Memphis, the resulting recordings from those classic sessions showcase the more country soul, rock’n’roll side to a band who continue to surprise. It’s Primal Scream as you’ve never heard them before.

Dowd’s deft production, coupled with the merging of this sublime rhythm section and one of the UK’s best ever bands, led to the creation of nine glorious tracks that run the gamut between blues, gospel and brilliant songwriting, available for the first time.

“I felt we went down there with such good intent, but somehow we lost our way afterwards,” Bobby Gillespie admits. “There’s definitely a lesson to be learned about how creativity can go down the wrong track. We’re a band that constantly keeps moving and doesn’t look back, but, for years, I felt bad about us going to Memphis and not doing what we set out to do. Hearing these songs after all this time has made everything all right again. I feel redeemed.”

After their genre-defying breakout album Screamadelica (1991), now widely regarded as one of greatest albums of all time, Primal Scream relocated to Memphis in 1993 to record what would become Give Out But Don’t Give Up.

Bobby & Tom (C) Steve Roberts

Once the band and Creation Records’ boss Alan McGee heard the recordings, however, they were both confused and underwhelmed. Their inner punks got the better of them and they brought producer George Drakoulias onboard to overhaul the recordings, with the band replacing, guitar, bass and drum parts over several sessions in the ensuing weeks until they were left with what became Give Out But Don’t Give Up.

Classic Album Sundays founder and BBC 6music host Colleen ‘Cosmo’ Murphy will sit down with Bobby and discuss his memories of recording the album and why these original tapes are so important to him. This will be followed by a full album playback on our world class audiophile sound system. The evening will wrap up with a Q&A allowing fans to ask questions of their own.